Monthly Archives: July 2010

Last Sunday I did not run because of the 5Peaks trail race, which was a hill training session if ever there was one so I am counting that as a hill training session. I will post pictures and a breif commentary about that race later on but for now I’d like to report on today’s hill training session. I went to the same old hill, a 500 meter, 12% grade asphalt hill in the river valley at the crack of noon so the heat would be intense. I like to say I run at this time in order to become used to running in the heat of summer rather than say something like …”I’m frikken lazy and I slept in till 10 AM,…”, which although true, doesn’t sound nearly as heroic. So I began with a very slow 2 km warm up run on the flat around the Lion’s campground … Continue reading →

Today’s hill training session consisted of a 2 km warm up followed by 4 hill climbs and of course, 4 downhills and ended with a 2 km cool down for a total of 8 km. The hill was the same as last week, a 500 meter hill with a 12% grade. My times were a bit better today. The 4 uphill segments were 4:54 – 4:53 – 4:40 and the last slowed down quite a bit at 5:10 partly because it was my 4th try but also because I tackled it after a 500 meter flat bit just to see how that would feel. The first three hill runs were separated by a 3 or 4 minute rest before the next set, but after a similar rest, on the 4th I decided to try running a good pace for 500 meters on the flat before hitting the hill. The corresponding … Continue reading →

Today I went back to the same hill as last Sunday but I decided to try running the entire hill. The hill is 500 meters long with a 12% grade and is asphalt. I started with a 2 km on the flat warm up, followed by a slow and careful stretch of all the relevant bits of my anatomy. I can’t stress the importance of a proper warm up and then a stretch before you begin serious hill training. I decided to do 3 sets, where one set is running up the hill and down again for a total of 1 km. My first run up that hill was tentative. I reached the top in 5:48. Immediately after reaching the top of the hill, I turned around, restarted my stopwatch, and ran back down again (no rest). I got to the bottom in 3:08. On the bottom I had a … Continue reading →